Outrage after court decides girl, 11, 'consented' to sex with man, 28, who lured her from park
A French court has ruled that an 11-year-old girl “consented” in a “sexual relationship” with a 28-year-old man after she was lured back to his apartment.
The shock decision left the young girl’s family devastated and drew immediate fury from children’s rights groups.
The court heard that the man lured the child back from a park in the northern Paris suburb of Montmagny before he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
However, prosecutors said they could not justify charging the man with rape as there was no “violence” involved.
The girl’s family insists she was “paralysed with fear”, slamming the lesser charge of sexual abuse of a minor.
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“She thought it was too late, that she didn't have the right to protest, that it wouldn't make any difference, so she went into auto pilot, without emotion and without reaction,” the mother told local media.
One children’s rights group echoed the family’s frustrations saying “submitting is not consenting”.
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